At the end of each table are the traditional sawtooth, square and triangle waves - so you can get pretty near to most analogue sounds too. The position in a wavetable can either be static or swept by a variety of modulators for some dramatic harmonic effects. Suffice it to say here that each oscillator draws its waves from one of 128 wavetables that's 64 factory, 32 user (created by computer software) and 32 currently 'reserved'. If you look back at the last review of the original Microwave (August 1995's Sound On Sound), you'll get an idea of how this unique synthesis engine works. It's a great pleasure not to have to flick a small cursor around the screen to edit each value. I am pleased to report that these feel quite heavy but respond positively to a fast turn, taking you to the extremes of any scale a slow turn is accurate enough for single increments. You scroll through the pages using the Big Red Knob, then use the control knobs directly under the LCD to increment or decrement the displayed value.
Waldorf have done a good job with their four continuous knobs, avoiding the sudden leaps that usually happen when knob position doesn't match the parameter value. Like the old Microwave, the Mark II has up to eight edit buffers to maintain tweaked versions of your patches.
#MAGICALPAD REVIEW PATCH#
You can store your changes, compare them with the untweaked version, or even recall the original without storing - but be careful with this last function: if you recall the patch by mistake, your edits are gone forever. Each edit screen has up to four tweakable parameters and when you've altered any, a small 'e' appears after the patch name in the Play screen. These are helpfully labelled in the top right‑hand corner by a 'title' which times out after a user‑definable period.
#MAGICALPAD REVIEW SERIES#
Pressing one of the edit buttons lights its corresponding LED and gives you access to a series of pages. Once you've sniffed through the factory sounds (see 'Sounds' box), it's time to enter the wonderful world of sound creation. The remaining parameters are controlled via SysEx so you can easily record an entire editing session into your sequencer. Don't worry, though, as MIDI controllers are sent during patch edits - almost 80 in total - chosen where direct control would be most useful. In this mode, the knobs do not send MIDI control changes, presumably because most of the available controllers are already directly allocated to specific Microwave parameters. You might choose Cutoff Frequency, Resonance, Filter Envelope Amount and Wavetable selection in one patch, and parameters relevant to the arpeggiator in another.
Patch name, mode (Sound or Multi) and the main volume level are shown, and pressing the Play switch brings up the value of four patch‑programmable parameters to be tweaked during performance. Power up and you enter Sound mode, from which you can access 256 patches divided into banks A and B.
#MAGICALPAD REVIEW PLUS#
At the rear of the instrument are the obligatory MIDI In, Out and Thru, plus assignable twin stereo outputs and the external power connector. This isn't as large as some, but does a great job of showing what you need to know. One obvious improvement is in the form of the 2‑line x 40‑character LCD. The knob is positioned in the centre of an outward spread of ripples used to delineate the programming matrix (does that make sense?). It features the familiar large red Microwave knob which, depending on the current mode, is used to select sounds or to scroll through edit pages.
Two rack spaces high and only 220mm deep, the Microwave II is sleek and distinctive.The front panel has five edit‑selection switches, a play/shift switch, a power switch, seven bright LEDs, and four continuous knobs which are used to perform all edit operations.
It's great to play a new instrument not devised out of a desire to jump on a bandwagon or to follow fashion but with the simple aim of perfecting an already classic design. The Microwave II continues in the Microwave tradition, replacing the famed analogue filter with an all‑digital counterpart and improving and changing many other features. Paul Nagle gets quite a taste for it.Īfter the remarkable success of their Pulse monosynth, German company Waldorf have returned to their first love: wavetable‑based digital synthesizers. Waldorf have been cooking up something special for the son of their acclaimed synth dynamo, the Microwave.
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